Marmozets’ Becca Macintyre: “I Think The Right Bands Stand Tall Within Their Weirdness…”

We caught up with Becca to talk finding inspiration, using pressure to your advantage and new album 'Knowing What You Know Now'.

HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT THE NEW ALBUM ALMOST BEING HERE?"It feels like we’ve written the music, but it doesn’t really exist because it’s not out and about yet. We’re in a really weird situation where we know we’ve done this album but not many people have heard it - we’ve had it recorded since last year [2016]. It’s just a matter of getting it out now. We just want it to be out so that everybody can chill with it!"

HAS IT BEEN FRUSTRATING WAITING FOR SUCH A LONG TIME TO GET THIS OUT INTO THE WORLD?"It has, but timing is key within this industry, especially for us. I think the last two years we needed to sort out a load of stuff as well as doing our job, which is writing music that we love. We wish we could’ve had it out a bit earlier but there were personal things going on. It’s cool now though - we’ve already started writing for the next album and we all seem to be in a really good place."

WAS THERE A LOT OF PRESSURE FOLLOWING UP SUCH AN INCREDIBLY STRONG DEBUT ALBUM?"I guess there is going to be pressure, because with ‘The Weird And Wonderful…’ we’d only just got signed, and we had all of this material. I think it’s a lot different when it goes from you doing [a band] as a hobby, to getting signed where it really does become a job. A little bit of pressure can do amazing things and can push you to greater places. We’ve learned to see pressure as a good thing and we seem to work well under pressure as a band. We wouldn’t have signed up to this if we were going to be lazy about it."

YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN A VERY ENERGETIC LIVE BAND - DID THAT ENERGY TRANSFER INTO THE STUDIO?"Completely - we were happy to get back into it. We were all so happy to be under the same roof, to be able to just go out and play football and then sit down together and have tea. For me that was important because over the last two years I’ve been very separated from the boys, because of my knee operation and then not living next door to each other anymore. We’re doing something that we absolutely love and something that connected us all together in the first place, which was music. It makes you look forward to the next experience of recording."

IT SOUNDS AS THOUGH YOU'RE READY TO MAKE ANOTHER RECORD BEFORE YOU'VE EVEN PUT THIS ONE OUT?"After we finished recording, Jack [Bottomley, guitar] was still constantly writing. Then like, seven ideas came into my own head. That little bit of inspiration is all you need to get things going. Josh [MacIntyre, drums] is always full of ideas - he’s always on his Mac. We’re all in a good place and we all have an idea of a sound and direction for a new record, but you never really know. I could be talking about this in a few months and saying, ‘All these songs are shit!’"

IT'S A VERY DIVERSE AND DYNAMIC RECORD - YOU CAN CERTAINLY TELL THERE WERE A LOT OF IDEAS COMING TOGETHER AT ONCE."Why would you want to eat the same thing every day? You want to spice it up and have something a little different, and that’s how we are with music. We don’t want to do the same thing everyday because we’re just going to get sick and tired of it. That’s the beauty of art; you can go in so many different directions. It’s a lot more upbeat and we did experiment more with electronics because we have Josh, who is not just an amazing drummer but also a whizkid on his laptop."

DID YOU ULTIMATELY JUST WANT TO SEE HOW FAR YOU COULD PUSH THE MARMOZETS SOUND?"I think we naturally push things. We never think, ‘We can’t do this, maybe we should do that instead’ etc. I don’t know how we end up making it work for each other - it just does. I guess it’s the love we have for each other that drives us forward, and the confidence that we have in our ability. When you love something this much you end up pinching it and putting it on your coat like a badge. It’s part of you."

DO YOU FEEL IT'S IMPORTANT TO BE FEARLESS IN THIS DAY AND AGE?"I think the right bands stand tall within their weirdness, and in their uniqueness and their beauty. People love to connect with things that are real. Some people love the glamour and the fakeness, but other people love the real stuff. It’s about having that balance. It’s cool being real and sticking to your guns, though. It does help."

WAS HAVING A FUN SIDE TO THIS ALBUM AS IMPORTANT AS MAKING FEARLESS, INTERESTING SONGS?"Oh yeah! [In the early days of the band] I was a teenager who wasn’t exactly full of anger, but had that edge. I hadn’t fully developed or become a woman properly. When your body changes your mood changes, and your taste changes. I’ve always danced - dancing is one of my favourite things. I could be in a shop buying my weekly food and I’ll be dancing down the aisles! There’s a sense of freedom in dancing. I’m so excited that I’m able to boogie on stage. It makes me so happy and I know it makes a lot of other people happy, too."

BOOGIES ASIDE, THERE ARE DEFINITELY SOME SLOWER AND MUCH MORE SOMBRE ELEMENTS TO THIS RECORD..."It wasn’t all happy-clappy dancing, for sure. In the last couple of years some sad things have happened, so you know what? I’m going to sing about them. Other people are going to go through those experiences, and I think it’s great being able to find a way to move on. For me, one of the ways I dealt with things was going on tour and still pushing myself. I was trying to distract myself [from life] but it doesn’t work. You have to get to the root, and the thing I needed to do was get [my problems] into song."

"My nana passed away a while ago - she was called Faith, and she had all the faith in the world. I had to sing about her. Hopefully it’s one of those songs I can put out there and people can look at death a little bit easier, I guess. Death is a horrible word - it literally means darkness. If you can believe that one day you get to see people again, and they go to paradise or Heaven or whatever, that’s cool. I think that’s a cool hope to hold."

WAS IT HARD TO WALK UP TO THE MICROPHONE AND TALK ABOUT THESE THINGS?"It flowed, but I will never forget having my brother in the background saying, ‘You need to sing it for her’. I remember thinking, ‘I love my nana so much that I’m either going to cry all the way through this, or I’m going to smile all the way through this’. Smiling all the way through this helped so much. I felt like she was there the whole time."

YOU'VE BEEN BACK ON THE ROAD FOR THE LAST FEW MONTHS. HOW HAS IT BEEN GETTING BACK IN FRONT OF PEOPLE?"It’s been so good! It was a bit nervy at first but the more we kept sticking to it, just going for it and giving our all, it really started to pay off. You could see it in the fans - some of them have ended up coming to a show the following week as well. It’s not like they’ve gone, ‘Oh Marmozets are good’ and waited a year. They’re coming to see us straight away again, and they are there for us. It’s so special."

IT SOUNDS LIKE 2018 IS SHAPING UP TO BE A VERY POSITIVE ONE NOW THAT YOU'VE DUSTED OFF THOSE COBWEBS?"Yeah, we’re ready for it. I wouldn’t say we’ve been sat still, but it definitely felt like it for a while. I literally felt like life wanted me to be sat down, not charging around like I usually do. I want to be dancing around and having fun. If we brought out a depressing album, I don’t think we would be in the position that we’re in now - we’d all be moping about. It was so important for ourselves, not just for the people that we write music for. We’re just ready to go out and have fun again."